U.s. Reports Major Drop In Poverty Rate For `84

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans living in poverty dropped last year to 33.7 million, a decrease of 1.8 million, or 5.1 percent, from the previous year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

It was the best improvement in the U.S. poverty rate since 1976, the bureau said.

The Reagan administration immediately hailed it as a political and philosophical triumph, but critics said the figure doesn`t offset the 3.5 million Americans who entered the ranks of the poor during the first three years of President Reagan`s first term.

The drop in the national poverty rate, from 15.3 percent to 14.4 percent, was spread among almost all large groups, including children, the elderly, female heads of households and blacks.

There was no change, however, in the severe poverty rates of black and Hispanic children, and Hispanics failed to show any improvement in income.

There also was no significant drop in poverty in either the Midwest or the Northeast; only the South and West showed improvement.

The largest improvement was, as expected, among the elderly, whose income has been raised by cost-of-living increases in Social Security payments.

The Census Bureau figures are based on a nationwide survey in March of 60,000 U.S. homes. The official threshold of poverty for an urban family of four was an annual income of $10,609 in 1984. The figure does not include noncash benefits such as food stamps or housing aid.

``I believe these numbers are further proof that the greatest enemy of poverty is the free enterprise system,`` said Reagan, who is vacationing in Santa Barbara, Calif.

``The success of 1984 does not mean that the battle against poverty in this country is over. It does mean that America, after a difficult decade, is once again headed in the right direction.`` From 1978 to 1983, the number of poor people in American increased by 9 million, to a high of 35.5 million.

For the second year in a row, the Census Bureau announced that median family income increased faster than inflation, for an adjusted real gain of 3.3 percent. It was the fastest rate of increase in family income since 1972 and double the previous year`s performance, the bureau reported.

``What we have is clearly unambiguous good news,`` said a jubilant Patrick Buchanan, the director of White House communications. ``It is not only a triumph for Reagan`s policies but a triumph for the Reagan philosophy.``

Buchanan said the current figures show that welfare spending has only a limited effect on the poverty rate and that a ``robust`` economy is the major factor. That argument has been in fashion since the early days of the administration, and the decline in the poverty rate probably will be used to promote that view in upcoming political battles to cut poverty programs.

But Reagan`s opponents and others who monitor U.S. poverty charged that the gap between rich and poor is wider now than at any time since the Census Bureau started showing income distribution in 1947.

They also said the drop was disappointing considering the nearly 2 percent drop in unemployment in the same period, and they cited income statistics that show little has changed for America`s poorest.

These statistics were included in Tuesday`s report:

-- The poverty rate for white Americans dropped to 11.5 percent from 12.2 percent. For blacks, the drop was to 33.8 percent from 35.7 percent.

-- The decline in poverty among children, to 21.3 percent from 22.2 percent, was accounted for almost entirely by white children, whose change was to 16.5 percent from 17.5 percent. There was no significant change among black or Hispanic children. About 46.5 percent of all black children and 39 percent of children of Spanish origin are poor.

-- There were about 7.3 million poor families in 1984, split almost evenly between those headed by married couples and those headed solely by women.

The new poverty rate is still the third-highest since 1966, said Robert Greenstein, director of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He said the new survey also shows the highest poverty rate recorded for black children since 1970.